The European Sustainable Energy Awards (EUSEW Awards) are designed to recognise outstanding individuals and projects for their innovation and efforts in energy efficiency and renewables. The following 12 finalists were selected by our high-level jury for their impact on Europe’s energy transition.
The EUSEW Awards winners 2022 were announced on Monday 26 September during the EUSEW Awards Ceremony in the presence of European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson!
Beccs Stockholm
The Beccs project will remove CO2 from the atmosphere by creating a Bio-Energy Carbon Capture and Storage facility at an existing heat and power biomass plant in Stockholm. The technology’s potential could produce 30 million tonnes of negative emissions per year, contributing over €2 billion to the Swedish GDP and creating 28 000 jobs.
ENVISION
An EU-funded project is allowing energy to be generated from the facades of buildings. The team at ENVISION have developed a cost-efficient concept for renovations to allow for the harvesting of thermal and electric energy from across a building’s surface while maintaining its aesthetic and functional properties.
MUSE GRIDS
This EU-funded project demonstrates a set of both technological and non-technological solutions targeting local urban energy grids to maximise affordable and local energy independency. This is achieved through optimal control strategies and smart grid functionalities, as well as storage and energy system integration.
ComAct
Thanks to impactful energy-efficiency improvements in multi-family apartment buildings in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and former Soviet Union republics (CIS), this EU-funded project is lifting households out of energy poverty. It involves five pilot countries (Ukraine, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and the Republic of North Macedonia) and is positively impacting over 10 000 consumers.
C-Track 50
An EU-funded project that supports local authorities in long-term climate and energy planning with a focus on climate change mitigation and adaptation alongside energy poverty. Since its launch 2.5 years ago, it has already saved the energy equivalent of taking 780 000 cars off the road for a year, and aims to help the local authorities involved to have a plan for net-zero emissions by 2050.
Minoan Energy Community
A community energy project, 100% funded by its members, dedicated to providing free energy in the municipality of Minoas Pediadas on Crete island, Greece. Thanks to a recently-commissioned photovoltaic (PV) plant, over 100 local houses and businesses are expected to have access to free electricity for 25 years.
Andreia Carreiro
The co-founder of Women in Energy Portugal is putting sustainable energy on the agenda and transforming local energy systems. She has been pushing for energy autonomy in her home region of the Azores, and her track record includes prioritising electric mobility and pushing for decarbonised, decentralised and digitalised energy systems across the islands, areas particularly vulnerable to climate change.
Britta Schaffmeister
The CEO of the Dutch Marine Energy Centre advocates for marine energy to become a key element of Europe’s renewable energy mix in the coming years. By building links between governments, corporations and technology developers, Britta hopes to scale up solutions and bring new technologies to the market.
Apostolina Tsaltampasi
The president and founder of WEnCoop, an all-woman Greek energy community, is dedicated to tackling energy poverty and improving education around energy efficiency. She is driven by the desire to give women energy independence and encourage them to take an active role in activities that secure a carbon-neutral future.
Timea Farkas
By working to improve energy efficiency alongside SMEs in Romania through two EU-funded projects, SMEmPower Efficiency and Gear@SME, this young engineer is helping to save energy and developing frameworks to replicate the projects’ outcomes more widely. Her work provides technical assistance on the ground to reduce CO2 emissions as well as facilitates the sharing of best practices across networks to ensure the spread of knowledge in the field.
Marie Jeanmougin
This 30-year-old engineer is developing a blueprint for high-impact renovations to boost energy efficiency on a local level by sharing tools, know-how and best practices with project partners. Within the EU-funded BAPAURA project she coordinates, 144 buildings will undergo renovations in the next year in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France.
Carla Silva Gonçalves
A Portuguese mathematician who has collaborated with several companies and institutes to develop forecasting models is carrying out vital work towards improving renewable energy systems. By developing techniques to better predict weather and manage associated data, Carla’s work is maximising the impact of wind and solar-powered energy networks.